Big Bang's Seungri announces retirement amid controversy

Singer Seungri is quitting K-Pop band Big Bang... and the music business altogether!

He has denied procuring prostitutes.

"It would be better for me to retire from the entertainment scene at this point", Seungri said in a post on his Instagram account.

In a statement he apologised to his fans, and promised to "sincerely participate in investigations into all allegations".

The search stems from leaked Kakaotalk messages from 2015 that are alleged to be between Seungri, CEO Yoo of Yuri Holdings, and a club employee. Prostitution is illegal in South Korea.

There is no suggestion whatsoever that Seungri was involved with the alleged wrongdoing.

The police have also been investigatingBurning Sun, a nightclub where he was a public relations director, over suspicions about illegal narcotics use, sexual assaults and corrupt deals with police officials at the club.

How has South Korea reacted?

A petition surfaced last week calling for him to step aside after causing "unrecoverable damage to the group's reputation". I personally can not tolerate causing harm to everyone around me in order to save myself.

"I'm so embarrassed at myself for being your fan for the last 10 years", a user responded to Seungri'sInstagram post. Fan @_nhungnhim29 wrote simply: "We'll never let you go".

According to YTN, a source from YG revealed, "Seungri's retirement announcement was not a decision made after consulting with YG, but a decision made on his own".

Seungri isn't the first member of Big Bang to be embroiled in controversy, however.

Band leader G-Dragon was also investigated for smoking marijuana in 2011, although he was released without indictment.

Still Seungri is reportedly scheduled to enlist in the military on March 25, despite the ongoing investigation.

Media captionWhat do non-Koreans love about K-pop?

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